WiMax Expected To Generate $51.3 Billion In Sales

The big wireless companies are at work on a new series of "4G," or "fourth generation," networks that promise to make the mobile Internet much faster and better.

Today there are already several 4G devices on the market, including a couple smartphones, such as the HTC Evo 4G from Sprint, as well as laptop cards, wireless "mi-fi" devices, and home base stations.

Eventually, you'll be able to buy all sorts of 4G devices, including laptops with built-in service, pretty much any cellphone or tablet computer you want with built-in 4G, portable digital TVs, or potentially anything that could use a really fast wireless connection.

You may even someday buy a car with a built-in 4G connection.

As WiMax adoption ramps up, revenue generated from all these devices and equipment using WiMax will total $51.3 billion by 2015, up from $7.4 billion in 2010, according to ABI research.